festival guarantees are much much smaller than a regular gig for all the small font artists. if an artist wants to book hotels instead of sleeping in cans or buses, a 20+ day tour can run up thousands of dollars, even if all three band members share a room.
the venue also takes home 50% of the door and 100% of the bar for the vast majority of artists who aren’t at the superstar level. and in rooms like the ones aftab is playing, you basically have to sell out to see any money at all
― comedy khadafi (voodoo chili), Thursday, 8 September 2022 17:17 (one year ago) link
50% of the door is a generous estimate that not every artist gets, they usually just get a flat guarantee (given the budget that a lot of small venues work with, that number is prob much smaller than you think it is) and the promoters get the ticket proceeds
― comedy khadafi (voodoo chili), Thursday, 8 September 2022 17:20 (one year ago) link
Lots of venues take a percentage of merch sales too
― mizzell, Thursday, 8 September 2022 17:26 (one year ago) link
which is bullshit
― Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 8 September 2022 18:17 (one year ago) link
Do they really? Not just when they provide a merch person?
― Evan, Thursday, 8 September 2022 18:35 (one year ago) link
No, the venue usually gets the money from the merch person. They count everything in during load in and recount it after the show. It's a really shitty practice.
― Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 8 September 2022 18:44 (one year ago) link
I have never understood why bands don't just load more merch in during the opening band. I guess you'd have to be pretty attentive to keep track of it all (ie "why is there more merch here now than when you started?")
― Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 8 September 2022 18:45 (one year ago) link
I actually don't know how widespread it is, but Stereolab recently posted that there were only 2 venues on their upcoming tour which don't take a cut.
xxp
― mizzell, Thursday, 8 September 2022 18:46 (one year ago) link
That is such a bullshit practice that needs to be shamed out of existence, ASAP. I've seen a couple of impassioned arguments FOR the practice from small venue owners that bemoan how much things cost for them, but none of it was enough to convince me.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 8 September 2022 18:52 (one year ago) link
My most detailed peek into touring band finances was a band some friends were in that used to tour Europe playing mostly small theaters. 8 piece band in a bus plus a sound person, driver, and merch person. Pre-pandemic they would come home with some money, let's say $5 - 15k per person depending on the length of the tour. Not great money at all if you're trying to live on it, and can't take a a full-time job so you can tour a few months out of the year. But definitely not losing tens of thousands of dollars.
I'm sure things are worse now in terms of missed shows due to travel snafus and COVID, lower turn-out and sales, etc. But I'd love to know how much worse, ie does that explain everything or are there additional factors in Aftab's situation.
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 8 September 2022 18:59 (one year ago) link
I see she's booked to come back to the Washington DC area in April 2023 on a bill with Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily all together in a collaborative project called Love in Exile at the fancy suburban Strathmore Music Center in Maryland that I think holds 2,200 people. $23 to $68. Not sure they will fill the place, but maybe she gets a sizable guarantee?
― curmudgeon, Friday, 9 September 2022 03:05 (one year ago) link
recent conversation i had with two booking agents suggested that Europe for jazz/"world" is good guaranteed money, US is not.
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Friday, 9 September 2022 06:19 (one year ago) link
this is insane? does that go for both US/EU?
― corrs unplugged, Friday, 9 September 2022 06:31 (one year ago) link
xxpost To have an idea of what you might be for with Love In Exile, scroll up to where I posted the link to their streaming concert: click on that, then click on the Vimeo you'll see, as I just now did: seems fine, although I didn't try to play the whole thing. Mainly because, as I said in my comments then (May, 2021), I sometimes got frustrated by the knottier, lengthier piano traffic patterns, despite the excellent vocals and bass---piano was effective at times as well, but judging by posts about recent shows, seems like she still gives her colleagues a lot of space---and Vijay is my least favorite of the people she's performed with (although he's always been an effective anchor-to-axis-and-back for Burnt Sugar). But she's mentioned a Love In Exile album that was finished a while back, and I would like to hear it---for one thing, maybe studio budgeting etc. would rein him in.
― dow, Friday, 9 September 2022 06:47 (one year ago) link
Time to spill the beans … https://t.co/a1OrLh39Gg— arooj aftab (@arooj_aftab) November 18, 2022
― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Sunday, 20 November 2022 13:33 (one year ago) link
Definitely looking forward to that at Big Ears.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 20 November 2022 15:28 (one year ago) link
looking forward to hearing that
― “Cheeky cheeky!” she trills, nearly demolishing a roadside post (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 6 December 2022 05:38 (one year ago) link
Been checking out Love in Exile video online from the last few years via NYC shows and a DC one at the Phillips Collection art museum. Improvised and a bit more melancholy. Definitely rewarding
― curmudgeon, Friday, 17 February 2023 03:27 (one year ago) link
Oh, some of the Love in Exile stuff is mentioned upthread. They first did it in 2018 and have done it on and off over the years.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 17 February 2023 04:02 (one year ago) link
Has the Love in Exile album been delayed? It's March in like 10 days but no preorder, no tracklisting, no info since that tweet back in November.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Sunday, 19 February 2023 16:36 (one year ago) link
https://f-cat.de/en/artist/love-in-exile
This says spring 2023. Aftab's manager told me during a zoom interview I did with her a few weeks ago, that the first single from it would be out February 23 and that the album would be out March 23
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 21 February 2023 05:59 (one year ago) link
^ Ooh, thanks, I'm glad it's not pushed back! She has just confirmed the single on Twitter BTW:
FIRST SINGLE of the new project is out tomorrowwwww TOMORROWWW— arooj aftab (@arooj_aftab) February 22, 2023
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Wednesday, 22 February 2023 19:22 (one year ago) link
tomorrow... but that's... today!!
― corrs unplugged, Thursday, 23 February 2023 08:34 (one year ago) link
yes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z0w7U6yw0cArooj Aftab ft. Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily • To Remain/To Return
(there's also a 3'19 edit)
― let us now celebrate ama ‘piano’ smith & the clowns (breastcrawl), Thursday, 23 February 2023 09:31 (one year ago) link
has anyone listened to this all?I think it’s a beautiful piece, if perhaps less ‘dramatic’ than the Vulture Prince material
― let us now celebrate ama ‘piano’ smith & the clowns (breastcrawl), Sunday, 26 February 2023 15:20 (one year ago) link
Yes, I really enjoyed it, but will wait for the full album before listening again.
― ˈʌglɪɪst preɪ, Sunday, 26 February 2023 21:14 (one year ago) link
ha, I was going to post the exact same thing
― rob, Sunday, 26 February 2023 22:08 (one year ago) link
Working w/ Vijay Iyer & S. Azmaily rather than Vulture Prince musicians I think is going to sound a bit different (although some of Aftab vocal melodies may seem consistent). Upthread and on Youtube are some live Love in Exile shows from NY & DC that the album will likely resemble.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 27 February 2023 03:18 (one year ago) link
Gonna be including the album in my Stereogum column for March even though it's pretty far from "jazz." Really beautiful, though.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, 27 February 2023 16:35 (one year ago) link
Looks like the album is not going to include the magnificent piece they did for the Resonant Bodies comp (is that how they got they her?)https://newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/resonant-bodies?t=6 if you missed it
― Xgau Murder Spa (nikola), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 02:28 (one year ago) link
* is that how they got together?
― Xgau Murder Spa (nikola), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 18:35 (one year ago) link
Iyer I read often invites people to perform with him and he invited Aftab to play onstage with him. Then he invited Aftab and Ismaily to do so, and after they all played together once , Ismaily was so so wowed he asked the other two to keep playing together as a trio
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 28 February 2023 18:41 (one year ago) link
album is out (have yet to listen)
― at bottom, wrapping my arms around some tripe called "Quest" (breastcrawl), Saturday, 25 March 2023 10:37 (one year ago) link
keep waiting for the album to begin, riyl sleepy ECM
― corrs unplugged, Sunday, 26 March 2023 19:16 (one year ago) link
Yeah it's more an ECM album with Arooj than an Arooj Aftab album. I also found the beginning to be too quiet, but now I'm enjoying the dialogue between piano and double bass and the tranquil warmth (Shadow Forces - Sajni), the slightly darker Eyes of the Endless. I think there's enough tension and beauty to hook me.
― Nabozo, Monday, 27 March 2023 12:57 (one year ago) link
I have precisely zero problems with sleepy ECM plus Arooj.
― Tim F, Monday, 27 March 2023 20:13 (one year ago) link
It's not sleepy, exactly — it's just a slow build. And you really need to listen to the whole thing front to back; you can't really pluck one track out (though I did, obviously, when covering it for Stereogum).
― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, 27 March 2023 20:15 (one year ago) link
Nate Chinen interviews Love In Exile:
On this special episode of All Songs Considered, Iyer, Aftab and Ismaily sat down in the Brooklyn recording studio Ismaily owns for for an in-depth conversation that touches on the origins of the trio, which they say felt instantly charged with spiritual energies. They also dicussed the implications of the name "Love in Exile," with its play of diaspora and longing; the mysterious way that a song form can emerge out of group improv and "ritual time" as an expression of tempo ungoverned by genre or market concerns.
― dow, Wednesday, 29 March 2023 23:21 (eleven months ago) link
Saw the Love in Exile trio Friday night . I enjoyed the ethereal soundscapes they did. It's a Vijay Iyer led project. Aftab sounded great when she sang. But she looked a little stressed. Early in the show she noted that she had monitor issues, and then later she didn't talk in between songs much -- a couple of comments about wanting more wine to drink onstage.(that first sounded like a joke or sarcasm, but after second comment about it , she seemed annoyed with the theatre for real).
― curmudgeon, Monday, 17 April 2023 04:39 (eleven months ago) link
I saw that a couple of dates from the Love In Exile tour have turned up on Dime. Not listened to the sets yet. Have enjoyed teh couple of tracks I've heard by her and did see she got an article in one of teh UK monthlies last moth that I've been too busy to read so far. Hopefully get to that over next few days.
― Stevo, Monday, 17 April 2023 09:06 (eleven months ago) link
Lot of good stuff on her Bandcamp. I'd take all that over the live Love in Exile performance linked upthread (because Vijay's long-ass ruminations), but haven't yet heard the album or tour bits.
― dow, Monday, 17 April 2023 16:54 (eleven months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6QNNxCf-3s
New Aftab, Iyer, Ismaily on NPR Tiny Desk (there's also an older Tiny Desk with Aftab with her own band)
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 14 May 2023 14:35 (ten months ago) link